Southern Comfort (1981)

Director: Walter Hill

Starring: Keith Carradine, Powers Booth, Fred Ward, Brion James, Peter Coyote

More info: IMDb

Tagline: The bayou has its own law... and they just broke it.

Plot: A squad of National Guards on an isolated weekend exercise in the Louisiana swamp must fight for their lives when they anger local Cajuns by stealing their canoes. Without live ammunition and in a strange country, they'll have to use more than their wits to survive.

My rating: 8/10

Will I watch it again? Absolutely!

Nice! What a great survival flick! I've been wanting to see this one for more than twenty years and I FINALLY got around to it. Man, I wish I hadn't waited so long. The atmosphere is thick and dark. The entire film is IN the swamps of Louisiana (or Lousyana like my Grandfather used to call it). I couldn't help but think about how awful it must have been for the actors and crew having to spend the entire shoot walking in swamp water.


The performances are solid and there didn't seem to be much fat in the story. It does feel a little long but it's compelling and a thrill to watch. And the ending? Nice! Walter Hill did a masterful job with the final ten minutes. I wasn't sure what the hell was going to happen but it left me satisfied. It's like a damn tasty and fulfilling meal...you may have eaten a couple of bites too much but you don't regret a single thing. You need to see this. It's that good and I'm stunned that no one has remade this. I'm not saying it needs one but it's the type of film that could be remade every generation and, if done right, it could really work.